Standing in the way of a Spain vs U.S.A Re-Match for Gold were Lithuania and Argentina. If Spain was going to get to the gold medal game it would be without Jose Calderon who suffered a strained groin late it the Quarter-Final win over Croatia. Good News for Raptor fans and big chance for Spain’s young star Ricky Rubio. Not good news that Calderon was injured but that he was not trying to play through the injury. Also Rubio would struggle going 0 for 6 from the feild but did have 6 rebounds, 4 points, 4 assists and a steal. Could Spain win anyway?
Meanwhile Argentina would end up being without Manu Ginobili. He would exit the game vs the United States with an ankle issue. But Argentina would fight on without him. So how did they do?
Olympic Semi Final Results
Spain 91 Lithuania 86
U.S.A 101 Argentina 81
Chris Bosh: 11 Pts, 10 Rebs, 1 Blk (vs ARG)
Bronze Medal Game
Lithuania vs Argentina
The status of Manu Ginobili will be the big story in this one. Argentina will have a much tougher time getting a medal without him. After all with him this Lithuania team still was able to get a win in the opening game of this Olympic Tournament. Ex-Raptor Carlos Delfino will have a larger role for Argentina without Manu. I think in the end Lithuania will be much more motivated to get a medal than Argnetina and I am thinking they will upest Argentina again to pick up a bronze.
Gold Medal Game
Spain vs United States
How hard did Spain play in that blow out loss to the United States? Only they know that answer. Playing perhaps without Jose Calderon who was honestly not good in the first match up with the United States. In fact not many wearing a Spain jersery were. It really would be an unexpected win if Spain was able to pull it off. But this American team is motivated and has yet to take anyone or anything for granted. They have been playing at a high level and have yet to face a serious challenge in this tournament. The Redemption of the United States Basketball Program has been a sight to behold. I can not imagine or see anything that can stop this team from getting to it’s ultimate goal of a gold medal. The Raptors will have a Gold Medal winner in Chris Bosh and a Silver Medal winner in Jose Calderon when all is said and done.
Kudos For Calderon
Jose Calderon did the right thing today by not playing for Spain in the Semi-Finals. If he is not 100% as hard and as painful as it will be he needs to do the same for the Gold Medal game against the United States. Calderon has seen how things can go wrong based on what happened with his friend Jorge Garbajosa and I think he understands that there are a lot of people that count on him in Toronto as well as in Spain. So here is hoping Jose continues what is right for his career and the Raptors. It goes without saying how key he will be for the Raptors this season. Like I stated yesterday by playing in what will be a United States win with Jose or without him serves no purpose and is a risk not worth taking for him given his new role with the Raptors. That was the best DNP in Raptor History today. Yogi Stewart the king of Raptor DNP’s would be proud.
Calderon really might not have had to hard a choice to make based on the injury update from Doug Smith over in Beijing covering the Olympics:
Doug Smith Article on Calderon Injury
It would seem highly unlikely that Jose will play in the Gold Medal final based on this information but should be 100% for the Raptors season that is just about 2 months away.
Update 7:10 PM Aug 22nd
It seems Calderon is going to be a spectator for Spain vs U.S Gold Medal Game. Here are the comments from his website:
Jose Calderon ( From Website Blog)-”As you all know, I did not play and I am not very optimistic about playing in the Final. It is a small injury that if I force any further, I run the risk to injure myself more seriously. Yesterday was a difficult day for me, I knew that I could not play today and I felt terrible. I imagine that you all can imagine the deception: nearly two months of practice, even more time thinking and preparing for this moment, and precisely when the big game comes, you cannot play. Today I am feeling much better and above all happy and proud for the achieved objective. In any case, I am sure as I told you the other day, we will play a good final game, and we will fight for the gold.”
Tags: Calderon Injury Update, Chris Bosh, Doug Smith, Gold Medal Game, Jose Calderon, Raptors at Olympics, Team Spain, Team U.S.A
August 23, 2008 at 8:53 am |
Spain have been quite unimpressive. I think Team USA have an easy Final ahead of them. Short handed Argentina gave them a tougher match than what I expect Spain to bring to the table. It’s been shocking just how unintelligent Spain’s offense has been, how poorly they use their best scorers.
On another note it’s good to hear that Calderon is playing it safe. Feel bad for him though, must be painful to miss an Olympic Final.
August 24, 2008 at 12:47 pm |
Now that the Gold Metal has come back to the U.S., the debate begins, who is better team: The 1992 Dream Team or this years Redeem Team? You decide.
http://kowalkerjourney.com/2008/08/24/mission-accomplished/